Hamburgers and assimilation: You should judge religions and groups, part II

When Muslims move to another country, they make that country worse. Three notable exceptions that come to mind: the secular Iranians who moved to L.A., Ahmadi Muslims who moved to Britain, and Iraqi translators who converted to Christianity.

Notice a pattern here? Iranians are mostly secular; other Muslims persecute the Ahmadi for not being Muslim enough;* and Muslims who leave Islam, as the Iraqi converts, are by definition not Muslim.

Most immigrant groups tend to stick together for a generation or two before they start integrating and intermarrying. But Muslim populations don’t integrate because of their religion (Surah 5:51). Furthermore, their religion says they are superior to others (Surah 3:110). Getting into Quranic interpretations is complicated, but from what I’ve read, the common interpretation is predictably bad. More importantly, based on what we can observe of group behavior, the bad parts of the Quran are not only well respected but acted upon.

Oh, yeah. Muslims kill gays and women whom they perceive as being unchaste. To pull from a few recent events: last month there was an attack on a gay nightclub by a Muslim in Tucson, Arizona*; last year there were Iraqi-Muslim parents who tried to kill their daughter for refusing a marriage in Washington state. This is not a theoretical matter or a problem confined to Europe.

This feels unpleasant for me to bring up because I was raised in a classically liberal American fashion. I learned that it was rude to make fun of somebody’s religion or make a big fuss over somebody's theological convictions. That’s what Europeans did, starting silly wars about some interpretation of the Bible. Americans were chill with everyone as long as they liked America, Old Glory, and Hamburgers. Jews could have baconless hamburgers, and Hindus could have chicken hamburgers on July 4th. (Which are delicious with the right kosher salt.)

But I must part with my feelings to accept reality. There is no baconless hamburger delicious enough to make devout "American" Muslims integrate.

If I were still in college, I would have to write four more pages with at least a dozen citations of various terrorist attacks by ‘American’ muslims who shouted Allahu Akbar before committing violence. But since I am writing for the Ricochet audience, I will assume that most of you are already familiar with the sad stories. You know that the pattern doesn’t look good.

I may add that Arab Christians, Iranian secularists and Pakistani-Sikhs (with some exemptions) tend to integrate into Western societies fairly well, but Muslims from those countries don’t integrate. I find this to be powerful evidence that indicates the problem is Islam rather than this or that particular culture.

So I agree with Susan Quinn that we should delegitimize Islam. It is an ideology that has failed to build a decent society or to make immigrant groups good.*** I don’t want anyone to be mean to your local Muslim grocer or nurse or whatever, but Americans and all lovers of liberty should not vote for Muslim candidates, and they should discourage immigration from Muslim countries unless those immigrants disavow Islam, eat pork and say that they worship a G-d of freedom who wants everybody to get along on the Fourth of July.

P.S. The AI images are my own. Feel free to use them however you like as long as you keep Lady Liberty a redhead to respect the Scottish Enlightenment.

*There is a big debate with Ahmadis about whether or not they are Muslim. No need to get into that esoteric debate here. I will merely observe that Ahmadis don’t blow stuff up, so I respect them.

** The Tucson, Arizona shooting was complicated. He shot himself which is forbidden in Islam. I think the attack on the gay community was based on half insanity and half Islamic extremism.

***Perhaps some individuals become better with Islam, but I doubt it. I suspect that many Muslims are just unusually good people who happen to be born Muslim and don’t know much about the Quran. The hero of Bondi Beach who saved people from a terrorist attack with inspirational physical courage is a very good person, for example. But I suspect his goodness is not related to the religion he was born into.